Common courtesy in the laundry room

Laundry: the one chore that you try and put off as long as possible. Some wait until they are down to their very last clothes before they’ll make the trek down to the laundry room. Not wanting to do laundry is understandable; it can be a very stressful experience. For some it’s stressful because they’ve never done their own laundry until now. For others it might be stressful due to general lack of laundry-room courtesy.

There are hundreds of students competing for a small number of washers and dryers. As a result, people need to be aware of some dos and don’ts in the laundry room. One way to make laundry more efficient is to go while most people are in class or out partying on Thursday nights. By going at a time that doesn’t fall into the laundry rush hour, it is more likely that you will be able to get all of your laundry done in the hour and a half that it’s supposed to take.

Before going all the way to the laundry room, check laundryview.com to see if there are even machines available. If there aren’t, you save yourself a trip downstairs. It’s also a good idea to time it so that you will be around when it is time to retrieve your clothes. No one likes it when clothes are left in the washer machine for long periods of time, especially when the laundry room is busy. When you leave your clothes in the washer or dryer, you run the risk of them being dumped elsewhere and that’s how you end up with missing socks or other articles of clothing. The machines tell you how long it’s going to take, so set an alarm to remind you to come back at that time. Another option to make sure that you go and get your laundry on time is to set up text alerts that let you know as soon as your load is done; just another helpful way to ensure that the laundry process moves as smoothly as possible.

Also, don’t try and reserve various machines. The washers and dryers are first come, first serve. If someone beats you to it, you will just have to deal with it and use the next available one. People waiting for the machines also need to have patience; if a machine stops and the owner of those clothes aren’t right there, wait a few minutes to allow them to get there before removing their clothes from the machine. People get held up for various reasons so be mindful of that. As long as we start showing each other a little respect, laundry will be a breeze.

Taylor Duckett is a freshman majoring in chemistry.